


bottom of the river on the other side of the world

by watergator



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Egypt, Gen, Human AU, Older Boys, River Nile, crocodile au, crocodile dundee mikey, crocodiles - Freeform, don't know what made me wanna write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 09:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7797313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Human AU - one shot (will write more chapters if anyone wants me to :)</p><p>Set in the 1990s, Mikey decides to go to Egypt for crocodiles (and another important thing)</p>
            </blockquote>





	bottom of the river on the other side of the world

Raphael hated sand, any sane person would agree with him, unless that person was his youngest brother, Michelangelo.

He calls him little brother, but he stands at almost 6 foot now, with broad shoulders and an even broader smile, dark tan skin smooth over his dustings of freckles - the only thing he didn't grow out of, as well as the unruly mop of curls that were different shades of honey and blonde. His not so little, little brother.

His passion was always the sun, sand and the sea, out surfing, catching the waves, real cowabunga stuff.

But it wasn't until his 20th birthday that their once tiny bucktoothed baby moved across the world, all the way to Egypt.   
He had suddenly sprung from his room one evening, when Raph was watching his usual wresting show and Leo was lounging, whilst Donnie sat cross legged on the floor, head between Raph's feet, the occasional, "Raph get your gross toes outta my hair", sprouting angrily from him, when Mikey came bounding in like a collie puppy - his hair was wild enough to look like one - with the news that he was going to Egypt for the year to study crocodiles, something none of them knew he had an interest it, at all.

After some talks, long talks that consisted of side glances shared by Leo, Raph and Donnie, all of confusion as Mikey explained that, "dudes, c'mon, I've alllllways loved crocodiles, you know that!", the problem was resolved when it wasn't crocodiles or Egypt that had Mikey jumping out of his seat, desperate for the next plane over – no, it in fact was a girl.

A girl called Renet, one that Mikey, sheepishly, described as one the most beautiful girls, no, lady, he'd even seen.

Renet turned out to be this gorgeous 5 foot 8, brunette that had previously been at Mikey's high school, being the senior to his junior, graduating to be a wildlife expert out on the River Nile.

Mikey, being Mikey, had gotten back in touch with her, fallen in love and had promised to be over the ocean as quick as you could say cats.

Leo wasn't impressed at first, he wanted his brother to go to college, or get a job, "but Leo this is a job", "a real job Mikey", and the youngest of a clan stormed back to his room mumbling something along the lines, "tell it to the crocs"

But Raph knew that there was something about little brothers that had a way of twisting round your little finger, and if anyone was going to have anything twisted, it was Leo.  
All it took was a couple of days of brooding on Mikeys side, a few uses of the puppy dog eyes, and lots of sighing. That way, Leo would most definitely cave in, Mikey had him eating out the palm of his hand.

The deal was, reluctantly, that Mikey could go study crocodiles with his new girlfriend, as long as Leo, Raph and Donnie tagged along for a little while, until he got his feet, and seemed settled in his new environment, not that that was going to be hard for Mikey.

Raph had told Donnie to set a timer to see how long it would take until Mikey had wondered off on his own, desperate to show his older brother how independent he could be - and Donnie confirmed that it took only a minute and a half after stepping off the plane, for Mikey to wonder off on his own.

But that was two years ago, two years ago and Leo had trusted him, met Renet, met her parents, unwillingly met a few crocs, and the three brothers had sat aboard the plane, watching their little brother turn into a spec as they rode back home to America, leaving him to live this new life — his new life without them. 

But now Raph was sat back on the same rickety old plane, his twins head resting on his shoulder sleepily as Leo looked anxiously out the window, almost as if he was trying to spot Mikey from all the way in the clouds - just to make sure he was okay.

They had gotten the occasional letter every now and then, but it felt more real to have him in the flesh, and it certainly did when the three brothers stepped off the plane only to be engulfed into a vice like hug, and only then did Raphael notice how big his baby brother was.

Mikey and Renet lived in a small village, just a quarter mile away from the river, in a small straw hut.  
It wasn't much, just the one room, with the cooker, the mattress on the floor - which made Leo slightly anxious that his baby brother had been sharing a bed with a girl, but when he saw the skinny cat that laid lazily across the pillows on the floor that Mikey had donned as the couch, he couldn't help but smile his lips curling at the sides,

"That's Klunk" Mikey beamed, almost like his was introducing them to his own child,  
"Doesn't do much but lay around"

"Looks like it" Raph grunted half heartedly.

By the time Renet had arrived home and everyone had hugged and said their hellos, it was Mikey that piped up,  
"So who wants to see a real croc?" 

His eyebrow was raised and there was the familiar sparkle in his crystal blue eyes that Leo recognised immediately as pure excitement. He was still a child at heart.

As much as Raph hated the rickety old boat and Donnie swaying it just to frighten him, he couldn't help but feel a swell of proudness when Mikey was rambling about crocodiles and their eating habits and all the stories about the ones he'd named, obviously, and where the best places to see them and when.

They had retreated back after about an hour and a half, after Mikey had noticed that his his older brothers were starting to droop slightly in the heat, and that maybe today the crocs were being shy, which Raph called "probably waiting to eat us"

Soon day turned to night and the sky was lit up with more stars than any of them had seen in a lifetime, as if the entire galaxy was just an arms reach away.  
Mikey, the culinary expert he was, cooked up some hot dogs, even Donnie was happy to see the rubbery New York food, and the five of them decided to sleep under the stars, even though Leo had made sure that they weren't going to be eaten by monstrous killing machines during the night, and Mikey had to explain that Mona, the local crocodile, was as soft as anything, and would only kill if she really smell the fear off of you.  
Raph didn't get much sleep that night.

They stayed for a good few weeks, and when it was time to pack their bags, Leo had to hold back from practically begging Mikey to come home - but when he saw the way he looked at Renet, and they way she looked at him, and how he would ramble on about Egypt and crocodiles and all the stories he had to tell, so many for someone so young still, Leo knew, he knew that look in his eyes, and the way he smiled and the way he would throw back his head and laugh, his contagious giggly laugh, whether it be in New York or in California or any corner of the world — that wherever Mikey was happy; he was home.


End file.
